Post on 22-Dec-2021
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Plastic Planet - KS2
Let’s explore how much plastic we make, how
much we throw away and where it ends up
Every day we use items made from plastic. Probably far more than you
might think. As a planet, how many plastic bottles do you think we buy
every minute?
A) 100
B) 10,000
C) 100,000
D) 1,000,000
You probably have a few plastic bottles around you right now. You
have two minutes to count how many plastic bottles you can find in
your house or classroom! (Don’t forget the bathroom)
How many did you find? ………………..
A lot of the plastic in our homes and schools will be used once then
thrown away, these are called ‘single-use plastic’. We are surrounded
by these items every day. Not just drinks bottles but straws, shopping
bags, shampoo bottles, coffee cups and crisp packets.
We us a lot plastic day to day but where does it actually go when we are
done with it?
Items such as plastic bottles, pots and trays go into your recycling bin
and picked up by bin lorries that bring them to the recycling centre to
use the material to make something brand new.
Plastic crisp packets, straws and bags can’t be recycled so they need
to go in the black bin bag. Since we can’t recycle these items the best
thing to do is to try to use less of them.
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Plastic in our oceans
However if we are not careful with our rubbish it can become a serious
problem for our planet. If people litter, just dropping their bottles and
crisp packets on the ground, they end up being washed down drains
and into rivers which then flow out into the ocean. This is dangerous for
ocean animals as they get injured by plastic waste or accidentally
swallow it. Often rubbish can stay floating in the ocean for long periods
of time.
See if you can guess how long these items
would stay in the ocean for if littered
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……………………. ……………………. …………………….
……………………. ……………………. …………………….
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8 million tonnes of plastic waste enters our oceans every year.
By 2050, if we don’t make any changes, the weight of plastic in the ocean
could outweigh all the fish
So how can you help?
Three simple ways to help limit single use plastic waste and look after our
planet are the 3Rs
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Reducing our waste just means to throw less away. It is the simplest, most effective way
to look after the planet. How could we buy less, use less and throw less plastic away?
For example when we go shopping, most of the food we buy is wrapped in plastic
packaging. All that plastic will end up in the bin once you get home and likely never be
used again.
Spot the difference between these two packs of bananas. What has been done to
reduce the amount of packaging and why do you think the picture on the right is the
better choice?
Reuse means to use something again. There are many ways we can use plastic more
than once. Using the same bags for each shopping trip, filling up the same bottle with
water rather than buying a new one or reusing a lunch box every day are all great ways
we can Reuse plastic rather than
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When something does need to go in the bin, it can often be recycled. This means you
can put certain plastics in the recycling bin along with paper, cardboard, glass bottles
and tin cans and send them off to be made into something brand new!
Clean plastic yogurt pots, bottles and plastic trays can all be recycled. All you need to
do is make sure they are clean and they go in the correct bin and we can do the rest.
We can make an amazing range of different things from old materials, a plastic bottle
could simply come back as a brand new plastic bottle or it could be used to make the
stretchy material in football shirts! Did you know that the England football teams’ kits are
made using old recycled plastic bottles?!
Not everything can go into the recycling bin however. It’s important to make sure that
no ‘scrunchy’ plastic goes into your recycling. ‘Scrunchy’ plastic is any thin plastic that
you could crush into a ball such as crisp packets, Clingfilm or plastic bags, These can’t
be recycled and so its particularly important to reuse your bags!
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So how can you help?
Here are some ideas for how you could use the 3Rs to help.
Tick the ones you, your family or your school do already or could plan to do
in the future. Write down any other ideas you can think of!
Buy loose fruit and veg rather than packaged
Buy food in bulk rather than in small packets e.g. bags of rice
Ask for drinks without straws at cafés or shops
Use soap that doesn’t come in a plastic bottle
Reuse water bottles when you want a drink (also saves you money!)
Swap to a thick plastic or metal bottle that will last longer
Reuse you bags when shopping or get a ‘bag for life’
Pack a lunch box rather than carrying food in a plastic bag
Ask your school not to use plastic plates or cutlery
Chose cardboard packaging over plastic if shops have a choice
Make sure plastic tubs and pots are clean before going in the recycling
Tell your family that crisp packets and plastic bags can’t be recycled
Makes sure your school has recycling bins in each class
Make a poster to show what can and can’t be recycled
Reuse plastic for craft rather than throwing it away
Make sure your friends and family know not to litter!
Write a school newsletter to help other learn about the 3Rs
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What could YOU do?
So we know that we use too much plastic and that throwing so much of it away can be
a danger to our planet. To help we should use less of it, use things again rather than
chucking them out and finally recycle what we can to make something new from
something old.
On the next page there is an outline of a plastic bottle to cut out and decorate. On the
bottle we want you to try to make three pledges (promises) you can make to do your
part to protect the planet. Your ideas could involve any of the 3Rs
What could you reuse at school?
Is there anything you could swap such as using paper straws rather than plastic?
How could you make sure the right things went into the right bins in your classroom?
How could you get people to litter less?
How could you share what you know about recycling with other people?
What rules/laws should we put in place to help protect the planet?
Have a think and put down any fun ideas you can come up with!
Here are some examples from a Year 6 class we visited recently
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Quiz answers
D) 1,000,000
Iceland changed their packaging after
customers campaigned to reduce plastic
waste.
Iceland stopped packing bananas
individually, reduced the amount packaging
and changed from plastic to cardboard so it
could be recycled.
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Plastic bottle and lid
450 -1000 years
Plastic bag
50 - 100 years
Coffee cup
200 years+ Plastic straw
250 years+
Banana peel
2 months
Cardboard box
6 months
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If your pupils have any photos of their work, feel free to share them
with us on Twitter at @WRWArecycling
We love seeing what schools have come up with!
Links to further reading to learn more
BBC ‘Plastic Watch’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/11CnCQR0GJfkDgJs57sR5Ps/war-on-plastic
‘WRAP’ Plastic Pact
http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/the-uk-plastics-pact
‘Recycle now’ Plastic Recycling
https://www.recyclenow.com/
https://www.recyclenow.com/recycling-knowledge/how-is-it-recycled/plastics
wrwa.gov.uk/schools
Reduce, reuse, recycle